31 Oct 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: adamant, advertisments, Advocate, all alone, all because we do not carry, all our sins and griefs to bear, all people, altar, another week of work, answers, appreciate our blessings, atonement for sin, be gracious to me, be wise, believing, benefits, blessings, burnt offerings, confess, covenant with god, depriving ourselves, distress, ease our sorrows, entreaties, everything to God in prayer, fallible, fellowship, fickle, Friday chant, fun, furthering God's glorious kingdom, generous help, Genesis, give thanks and praise, God incarnate, God should always be our first source of help, God's divine Word, gratefully accept Jesus' invitation, have mercy upon me, hear me when I call, heartfelt plea, high priest, holy mountain, House of prayer, hurting, importance of prayer, in Jesus' name, Isaiah, Jesus, Jesus' invitation, joyful, languishing in abject poverty, live that abundant life, Lord and Saviour, LOVE, O God of my righteousness, oh what peace we often forfeit, our Creator, our Provider, pilgrim's role, poverty, power of prayer, praise God's holy name, pray for one another, prayed fervently, prayer, prayer of a righteous man, prayer of trust, Psalm 4, Redeemer, relaxation, relieve our pains, renewed and refeshed, Revelation, sacrifices, sincere heart, sinful mortals, son of god, stubborn, TGIF! Thank God it's Friday!, the act of prayer, the BIBLE, the Good Book, the million-dollar question, the need for prayer, thou relieved me when I was in distress, week of life, what a friend we have in Jesus, what a privilege to carry, what needless pain we bear, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, wisdom, wonderful oppostunities, ye shall receive
Psalm 4:1. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged (relieved) me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me (be gracious to me), and hear my prayer.
Ah Friends, once again it’s Friday…! And as usual there are loud and joyful shouts of ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday! Thank God for bringing us safely through another week of work! Praise His Holy Name!’
Yes my people, we do indeed need to thank our heavenly Father for allowing us to successfully complete another week of life, both in the general world and in our particular place of work.
Many people can’t say that at all, so please let’s learn to appreciate the wonderful blessings we have, by giving some thanks and praise to our Creator and Provider, for without Him, we’d be all alone out on some lonely back street, languishing in abject poverty, as numerous others are unfortunately doing today.
And I don’t know why, but I got up a while ago humming the chorus to our old and dear hymn, ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus.’ And just in case it was a sign (smile) I decided to include it in our discourse today.
Please sing the first verse with me. ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.’
Yeh mih breddren, we have such a wonderful Lord and Saviour, such a wonderful High Priest and Advocate, to whom we can carry all our cares and problems for sure help, yet we foolishly decline to do so. Thus we suffer, endure so many unnecessary burdens and cares. That’s not very wise my people.
Jesus is inviting us to bring ALL our troubles to Him (Matt.11:28-30), so that He can ease our sorrows and relieve our pains. So please, let’s be wise and gratefully accept His most generous invitation nuh. We’re only hurting and depriving ourselves of wonderful opportunities to live that abundant life which Jesus died to provide for us.
We quickly turn to fickle and fallible man for help, when our omnipotent God should ALWAYS be our FIRST source of help. Let’s try and rectify that unfortunate situation today nuh. Let’s focus on taking our prayers to God, like Bruh David does in this evening prayer of trust in God – Psalm 4.
He opens it with the sincere and endearing request of our Bit: ‘Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged (relieved) me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me (be gracious to me), and hear my prayer.’
Friends, it’s simple and to the point. There’s no denying what he desires. And that’s all it takes to go to God; a sincere heart with a heartfelt plea. The Lord knows all our problems, but He requires us to come to Him to help us solve them. It’s true that He could solve them all with a simple snap of His fingers or a word from His lips, but that would make Him our lackey, rather than our Lord and God.
Please remember that we are in covenant with Him, and we need to perform our part in the covenant relationship, else the covenant becomes null and void. And today, since that’s the direction it seems our Lord wants us to go, we’ll look at a few instances where the importance and power of prayer are highlighted in the Bible, God’s divine Word to us.
And the greatest and best example of participating in prayer is obviously Jesus! The Good Book declares it thus: ‘And it came to pass in those days, that he (Jesus) went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.’ (Luke 6:12)
Ah Friends, if Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate Himself, still felt the need for prayer, who are we then, mere sinful mortals to think that we don’t eh?
And again, we turn to Jesus, this time as He positively promotes the act of prayer. ‘And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’ (Matt.21:22)
Oh my people, our Lord and Saviour, Redeemer and Atonement for our abominable sins said it, so it must be true!
And way back when, Isaiah declared this word from our God on the subject. ‘Even them (those who take hold of my covenant) will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for ALL people.’ (Is.56:7)
Oh my fellow believers, our God couldn’t be any clearer and simpler than that! His invitation is open to all those who are willing to accept it. So why don’t we do so today eh? Now that’s the million-dollar question! It’s not an idle or false and deceitful invitation like so many of man’s entreaties and advertisements.
We have oodles of examples, from Genesis to Revelation, where all the true servants of God prayed fervently to Him and received answers and benefits. So why are we so stubborn, so adamant in refraining from something that can only benefit us eh? I really don’t know nuh.
But in accordance with all we’ve written, we’ll go home with our own prayer today, our Friday Chant. No I didn’t forget, (smile) just thought it would be more appropriate today at the end rather than at the beginning.
So as one loud, grateful and prayerful voice, let’s chant: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through.
Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’
Yes Friends, it’s short and simple, but as James so wisely and truthfully tells us: ‘Confess your faults (trespasses, sins) one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual (effective) fervent prayer (supplication) of a righteous man availeth much.’ (James 5:16)
And when we follow that heavenly wisdom my people, we certainly won’t go wrong. Much LOVE!
…to pray…to pray…and yet to pray…that is the pilgrim’s role…
10 Jul 2012
by randyobrien50
in Inspirational Living
Tags: boomerang effect, don't judge, extraordinary happiness, languishing in abject poverty, look after the sick and needy, man's inhumanity to man, plant seds of righteousness, stop liking the things of the world, thanks and praise for life, unspeakable joy
Galatians 6:7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Oh Friends, it’s a new day and the ole fella’s extraordinarily happy! Wow! I don’t know the reason for this state of extraordinary happiness, because nothing extraordinary has happened in my life recently. In fact I felt lousy yesterday, weak and lacking energy, but I plodded on nonetheless, like I’m supposed to. I guess the extra joy must come from feeling much better today. Whatever the reason is though Friends, please, let’s give the Lord a big shout of praise and thanks because we’re alive and kicking and living better than the majority of people in our world. Oh Friends, it’s so sad to see so many people sick, hurting, oppressed, poor and hungry, when there’s so much in the world, enough that no one should have to go hungry or homeless. But unfortunately mankind has become such a rapacious, selfish, greedy disgrace, that the one percent at the top now possess more than all the other 99 percent put together. Hn! How sad! No wonder some wise man once said: ‘Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!’ And that’s the gospel truth Friends! Only it’s much worse now, for it’s no longer thousands but billions that are mourning. Think about that nuh mih breddren; billions of people on this fruitful earth are starving and languishing in abject poverty while a handful of us live high on the hog. And that’s not only in the underdeveloped countries, but also in the developed and supposed first world states. No wonder too that the Most High God is so disappointed in us, His most wonderful creation. But who wouldn’t be eh, since we’re living such shameful, ungodly, evil lives? That brings us to our Bit: ‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked (outwitted, outfoxed): for whatsoever a man soweth (does, practices), that shall he also reap.’ And we know that’s gospel truth Friends, that’s why so much unusual stuff is happening to us these days. The Lord’s trying to warn us about our disgusting way of life, but sadly, very few are listening, especially amongst the powers that be. They are still greatly enamoured of Lucifer and his wicked, godless ways. But remember my people that our Bit is the foundation principle on which the Lord’s built His universe. So like the boomerang we spoke of yesterday, whatever we give out, the same will be returned to us. And it’s not like we don’t know that, for Jesus said it clearly and simply: ‘Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom (pocket). For with the same measure that ye mete (use) withal it shall be measured to you again.’ (Luke 6:37-38) It doesn’t take a rocket scientist mentality to understand that whatever you do, and however you do it, the same will be done to you. Yes Friends, if we judge, condemn, do not forgive, do not give, or give grudgingly, the same thing will happen to us. Why can’t we understand that and change our selfish, greedy ways eh? But here are two relevant quotes from two famous men. The first is from Robert Louis Stevenson, (1850-1894) Scottish writer, most famous for the book ‘Treasure Island’, a long ago staple in schools. He says: ‘Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.’ Sure words of wisdom Friends! Meanwhile John Bunyan (1628-1688) the English writer renowned for his book, ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ rightly declared: ‘You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who cannot pay you back.’ Those are also words of undeniable wisdom my people! For Jesus also said it quite plainly. ‘When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again (invite you back), and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed (crippled), the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense (repay) thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.’ (Luke 14:12-14) So Friends, why aren’t we, the supposed followers of Jesus, following His instructions more widely and generously than we are eh? For it’s no secret that supposed Christians are some of the most selfish and greedy humans around. But when calamity and affliction overtake us we wonder why, then piously hold our heads and bawl: ‘Why me Lord?’ It’s simple Friends; because we’re not living the kind of life Jesus died for us to live. We’re still too enamoured of Beelzebub and his worthless useless baubles, that only have a flashy front but nothing of real and lasting substance beneath. And we’ll end with some tough LOVE from Bruh Paul to the Romans: ‘And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and (thou) doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgement of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds.’ (Rom.2:3-6) Please Friends, let’s seriously ponder those words today, because they are very important re where we’ll spend eternity, then try and bring our lives into better sync with Almighty God and His laws. That’s wisdom at its zenith. Much LOVE!…we shall all receive our comeuppance…in the same manner in which we dished it out… P.S. I want to apologize for leaving out the ‘not’ in ‘God is not mocked,’ in the heading of yesterday’s Bit. The ole fella’s only human. (smile) Much LOVE!
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